Zarinen Rafaliva
Name: Zarinen Rafaliva (Highest of the Red Ajah) '''Age:' 99 Nationality: Saldaean Hair: Long curly blue-black hair usually worn loose or tied back with a clip Eyes: Gray Skin: Olive Height: 5”8 Voice: Rich Alto Other: Lush figure, beautiful Skills: Willing to do anything for the sake of gaining knowledge Knowledge Weakness: Sometimes fails to think things through and consider the emotional impact of her actions. Personality weakness: Slightly unbalanced after her “experiment” and subsequent punishment. Personality: Iron willed, cold-hearted, obsessive about whatever she is studying. She is beautiful, but was not interested in her own looks, till now. She had thrown her heart and soul into the Red Ajah, eschewing such fripperies as pretty clothes and her appearance, rather concentrating on her hunt for knowledge and men who could channel. After her return, she has become a different person – flaunting her beauty, becoming fiery and quick tempered, though she managed a rudimentary control over that; has a tendency now to throw things around, when she loses control of her temper. Character History Zarinen was born near Irinjavar in Saldaea, youngest child of a mid-level noble family. Quite a bit younger than her siblings, her closest companion through childhood was Pietr, son of the tutor employed to educate first her siblings and later herself. Though she was a great beauty, Zarinen showed no interest in female frippery, rather spending her time with Pietr, totally immersed in studies. An intelligent girl, she constantly questioned the answers provided by books. Her quest for further information, preferably from the source, would often land her in hot water. Pietr tried to keep her from getting into too much trouble, but being a gentle young man he usually failed, getting overruled by his fiery and inquisitive friend. In her 16th year, Zarinen noticed disturbing changes in her friend, now 18. Usually the gentlest of people, he became subject to sudden headaches and fevers, and eventually very uncharacteristic outbursts of temper. Pietr himself was baffled by his behaviour. Since they were usually left to their own devices, apart from formal lessons from Pietr’s father, no-one else was aware of what was happening. Together, the two searched the library for information about his condition, but it wasn’t until another one of Zarinen’s dangerous experiments went wrong that the awful truth dawned on them. She had been attempting to steal a bear cub, to see if it could be raised to be tame, when its mother surprised them in her den. With no way to escape the enraged mother bear, Pietr prepared to sacrifice himself so Zarinen could escape, and of course she was trying to do exactly the same thing. As the bear was about to rip Zarinen to shreds, Pietr felt something welling up in him, and suddenly the bear went flying backwards. Both knew what this meant, and what would inevitably follow – madness and eventual death. When Pietr set fire to a farm animal in one of his fits one day, it was Zarinen who dried his tears of remorse, then went looking for Aes Sedai. Duty was indeed heavier than a mountain. Of course, word of strange happenings in the area had already been sent to the Tower, so she did not have to look far before she found a small group of Red Sisters. After shielding Pietr, they tested Zarinen, which was how she found herself in the Tower, enrolling as a novice, at the same time that her best friend was being Gentled. Due to his scholastic prowess, Pietr was employed at the Tower, which allowed the two to keep in contact, but twelve years later he died, as gentled men usually do. Then an Accepted, Zarinen buried herself even more in her studies, leading the Browns to have high hopes that she would eventually join them. Upon being raised, Zarinen chose the Red Ajah instead, knowing that preventing another Breaking was her calling. She never ceased studying, though; although what had happened to her friend had hardened her even more than most Reds, she was determined to find a way to utilize these men who could channel, rather than the only option there was now. So it came to pass that rumours of a young man who could channel reached her ears. Zarinen went to investigate, as usual disguising her ageless look with make-up so as not to alert her quarry. Most of those they found were not suitable to her purposes, but at last, after almost half a century of looking, Zarinen had found a possible subject for her experiment. She seldom used her looks, or bothered with seductive clothes, but this time she made an exception. A few drinks in a small town inn, a demonstration of how to dance the sa’sara, and most of the men present were ready to worship at her feet, not least of all a young lad of only 20. A few flutters of her eyelashes, and he all but begged to escort her to the next town, to “protect her from brigands”. It took very little persuasion for him to accept bonding, and only once that was safely done, did Zarinen explain the true situation to him. Oh, not everything, but she HAD to tell him she was a Red, or he would have revealed to the wrong people that he was not just her servant, but in fact her Warder. By the time he realised that he could channel, he was too besotted with her to object to her subterfuge. Thus they spent the next 4 years travelling less populated areas, avoiding other Aes Sedai as much as possible, while Zarinen studied him and his abilities. She had learnt all she could about healing, but nothing could ultimately prevent his gradual descent into madness. She had thought she was hard, but nothing had prepared Zarinen for what happened to her when she plunged her knife into his heart. She had studied what she could of the bond, without giving away her intentions, but she had never found out how to actually break the bond. She had also heard what happened to an Aes Sedai when her Warder died, but two facts had escaped her careful preparations: no matter how cold her heart, after four years of having someone in her head, he was no longer just a test subject. And no Aes Sedai had ever killed her own Warder, not according to anything she’d read or heard. The indescribable anguish, almost madness, which resulted, incapacitated her just long enough to be caught out. It was her bad luck that, in her state, she had headed for the only home she knew – the Tower, just at the wrong moment. She was caught in the net cast for other Reds, tried along with them, birched and exiled for 20 years, along with them. The uproar from the Greens when the truth of her transgressions came to light, added an extra bit of punishment. She hated the Greens. But she had survived, and she was finally back home, finally allowed to channel again. And she would make those Greens grind their teeth and spit in their tea. You did what you had to and you paid the price, but oh Light, she hated those Greens! Category:Biographies Category:White Tower Bios Category:Red Ajah Bios